Cotton-gin of the double-roller type.



Patentefl Feb. 6,1917.

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L. L. FOSS.

COTTON GIN OF THE DOUBLE ROLLER TYPE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. I916. 1,215,137. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

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COTTON GlN OF THE DOUBLE ROLLER TYPE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25- 19|5- 1,215,137.. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

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L. L. FOSS.

COTTON GIN OF THE DOUBLE ROLLER TYPE.

' APPLICATION FILED JAN.25. 1916'.

Patented Feb. 6,1917.

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COTTON GIN OF THE DOUBLE ROLLER TYPE.

. APPLICATION FILED IAN- 25,1916- 1.,215,137. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5- Z ,A r14/ /7 L Li y L l y nnrrnn salaries rairnnronnion LELAND L. FOSS, 0F VIDALIA, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOMOSES LEADER,

OF VIIDALIA, GEORGIA. I

COTTON-GIN OF THE DOUBLE-ROLLER TYPE.

Application filed January 25, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LELAND L. Foss, a citizen of the United States,residing at Vi'dalia, in the county of Toombs, State of Georgia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Gins of theDouble-Roller Type; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of. the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to cotton gins of the double roller type whichare designed to force the seeds from the cotton without breaking thefibers of the cotton.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of a machine whichis so constructed that it will have the-maximum operating capacity or sothat the relation of its operating capacity to that of the ordinarysingle roller gin will be as four is to one and that of the doubleroller gin as two is to one. 1

This object is attained broadly by the provision of a pair of spacedrollers, a ginning blade for each, a pair of oscillatory stay bars, eachof which carries a pair of hacker blades which cooperate with therollers and means for imparting an alternate movement to the stay bars.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of integralstay bars which support the hacker blades rigidly and without anyadditional means such as tie rods.

A further object of the invention resides in so constructing the staybars that the upper edges of the hacker blades lie in a plane just abovethe longitudinal axis of the pivot for the stay bars.

A further object of the invention resides in so constructing the machinethat the driving or operating mechanism will be so located that it willnot be exposed to the dirt incident to the ginning operation.

Another object of the invention resides in the. provision of novelmeansfor clamp ing the ginning blades to the breasts.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of novel meansfor adjusting the position of the ginning blades so that the pressure ofthe blades upon the rollers will be uniform.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of improvedjournal boxes Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. e, rare. Serial No. 74,206. I

for the rollers so properly adjusted. I

nother object of the invention resides in the provision of improvedtension devices for maintaining the ginning blades normally in theiroperative positions. A further object of the invention resides in theprovision of improved means for sup porting the breasts.

Finally an object of the invention resides in means for supporting thecrank shaft so that it will be subjected to the minimum amount of wearand resistance.

' With these and other objects in view, such as will appear as mydescription progresses, my invention comprises the combination andarrangement of parts as set forth in and falling within the scope of theappended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a perspective view of a machine constructed in accordancewith my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, parts thereof being that the rollers may be"broken away to more clearly disclose the mechanism;

Fig. 4; is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on line 4% of Fig.3 looking in the direction of the arrow and showing the breasts, thestay bars, with the blades on each, the feeder operating mechanism andthe griddles;

Fig. 5 is an end elevation;

Fig. 6 is a similar view looking at the opposite end of the machine andshowing the driving mechanism; a

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the stay bars, and

Fig. 8 is a fragmental detail showing the manner of adjusting theconnecting rod.

The embodiment of the invention disclosed in the drawing includes a pairof spaced end plates 1 which are held in fixed relation by rods 2 onwhich are nuts 3 and l, the former being located on the inside of theplate and the latter on the outside thereof. These end plates areadapted to rest upon a suitable support 5 such as a floor or the like.

Extending between these end plates 1 and through the same are shafts 6on which are secured rollers 7 having the usual leather facings 8, whichrollers are disposed between the endplates. These shafts are mounted insuitable bearings 9 supported by the end plates and secured to the endsof the shafts are pulleys 10 and 11. These bearings 9 are carried bybars 9, which bars are supported by bolts 10, the bolts passing throughthe ears 17 and having nuts 11 adjustable on their upper ends so thatthe bars 9 may be adjusted vertically. The lower ends of the bars aresecured to the end plates 1 by bolts 12 which extend through slots 13 inthe bars and are rigid with the end plates. These bolts 12' also act aspivots for the bars 9 and the bars may be moved about their pivots bymeans of bolts 14 which extend through ears 15 on the end plates and areprovided with nuts 16. These bolts are slidable in slots 17 in the ears15 and are pivotally connected to the bars 9 by rivets 18. Thus therollers may be adjusted either vertically or horizontally. In order thatthese rollers may be revolved in opposite di rections, I have provided aline or driving shaft 12 on which a drive pulley 13 is secured. A belt14 passes around this drive pulley 13, over the pulley 10 beneath thepulley 11 and over an idler 15 which is supported by means of a bracket16 on the adjacent end plate. The end plates 1 are provided with ears 17at their upper edges from which ears bolts 18, having eyes 19 on theirlower ends, depend, which bolts are sup- 7 ported, adjustably, by meansof nuts 20 and are located adjacent each end of each of the rollers. Abreast 21 is located adjacent each of the rollers 7, being oscillatablysupported by trunnions 22 which are formed on the ends of the breastsand pass through the eyes 19 on the rods 18,the eyes being held in placeupon the trunnions by washers 23 and locknuts 24. These breasts areprovided with longitudinally extending dove-tail rabbets 25. Adjustablysecured to the breasts 21 by means of a plurality of bolts 26 are plates27 which cooperate with the rabbets to form slots. Located in theseslots and extending downwardly therefrom are ginning blades 28 which arewedge shaped in formation and are adapted to be clamped in place uponthe breasts by the plates 27. The blades are made in this particularform and held upon the breasts in this manner so that they may beadjusted and clamped in place irrespective of the wear thereon. Theseblades extend downwardly in the usual manner and con tact with the facesof the rollers. Extending upwardly from the breasts 21 are arms 29 and30, the arms being secured in place on the breasts by suitable bolts 31.The upper end of the arm 29 is provided with ears 32 and pivoted betweenthese ears is a rod 33 which extends'to the arm 30 and passes betweenthe ears 34 which are formed thereon and which ears have notches 35 inthe edges remote from the arm 29. Slidably mounted upon this rod 33 is ablock 36 having trunnions 37 on the opposite sides thereof, whichtrunnions are located in the notches 35. The adjacent end of this rod 33is screw threaded and engaged with these screw threadsis a nut 38 bymeans of which the effective length of the rod may be varied, that is tosay, the

distance between the upper ends of the arms 29 and 30 may be varied.Bolts 39'l1aving eyes 40 thereon, which eyes surround the trunnions 22of the'breasts, are provided,

which bolts extend horizontally and through ears 41 formed on the endplates 1. These bolts are slidable through the ears 41 so that thetrunnions 22 may be drawn closer to or moved away from the ears to varythe pivotal point of the breast with relation to the rollers. The boltsare held in their adjusted position by means of nuts 42. It will be seenthat by operating the nuts 20 the breasts may be adjusted vertically.The pressure or tension of the ginning blades 28 upon the rollers 7 maybe varied by adjusting the nuts 42 on the bolts 39 and the nut 38 on therod 33 so that the upper ends of the arms 29 and 30 will be pulledtogether and the pivots of the breasts will be moved in oppositedirections which will impart to the breasts, a

twisting motion, forcing the lower edges of the ginning blades tighterupon the rollers. In order that the ginning blades may be normallypushed downwardly resiliently, I

is a coil spring 47 which normally forces the bar downwardly, themovement of the bar being limited by the nuts 20. These ginning bladesare pressed downwardly, resiliently, so that when they are struck by thehacker blades, which will later be described, they will not be nicked orbroken.

Mounted on each end plate 1 is a bearing 48 and extending between theend plates is a supporting member 49 which is provided with a bearing 50similar to the bearings 48, in alinement with and disposed midwaybetween the same. In order that the seeds may be pushed from the cotton,I have provided a pair of stay bars each of which has a trunnion 51mounted in the intermediate bearing 50 and a trunnion 52 mounted in oneof the bearings 48. The trunnion 52is provided with a crank portion 53on which is a crank arm 53 and the crank portions on the two trunnionsextend in opposite direction, that is to say, one hundred and eightydegrees from each other. These stay bars are each made of one castingwhich includes'a central bar 54 from which the trunnions 51 and 52extend and arms 55 which extend at right angles to the central bar 541and between-the ends of which a hacker blade support 56 extends, whichsupport is provided with a plurality of spaced bolt receiving holes.These supports 56 are each in the form of an angle iron and the hackerblades 57 are mounted thereon, being held in position by bolts 58 whichpass therethrough and through the said holes in the supports. It is tobe noted that the arms are so located with respect to the central bar 51% or to the longitudinal axis of the trunnions thatv the upper edges ofthe hacker blades 57 will be in a plane about one inch above the planewhich includes the upper edges and the aforementioned longitudinal axisof the trunnions. These hacker blades are carried in this particularmanner so that their movement will be such that the seeds will be forcedfrom the cotton without a shearing action such as would occur if theupper edges of the blades were above or below the aforementioned plane.Movement isimparted to these stay bars in the following manner:

Extending between and mounted in bearings on the end plates 1 is a shaft59 which is provided with oppositely extending crank portions 60 and 61on the ends thereof. This shaft is rotated by means of a belt 62 whichpasses over a pulley 63 on the line shaft 12 and over a pulley 64 onitself. Connected to each of thecrank portions 53 on the stay bars, isa. link 65 which is piv-' oted at 66, to a second link 67. This link 67is pivoted, at 68 to a plate 69. The plate- 69 is adjustable verticallyand horizontally on the adjacent end plate 1, the adjustment being hadby means of bolts 70 which pass through slots 71 in the end plate andslots 72 in the plate 69. The link 65 is provided with an angularlyextending arm 73 to which is connected a rod 74, which rod is pivotallyconnected to the adjacent crank portion on the shaft 59. Referringparticularly to Fig. 8 of the drawing it will be seen that the rod 74:is of peculiar construction, that is to say, it is made in two sections75 and 76, the section 75 having a tongue 77 thereon and the section 76having a socket 78 therein into which the tongue 77 extends. The tongueis however shorter than the socket and a wedge pin 79 is disposedbetween the same, which pin may be forced into the socket to move thesections apart and held in position by a set screw 80. Surrounding thesesections is a strap iron 81 which is provided at its ends with bearingportions 82 of Babbitt or other suitable metal. Disposed between thisBabbitt bearing portion and the end of the adjacent section is acomplemental bearing portion 83, which bearing portions receive thepivot 66 and the adjacent end of the shaft 59. It will be seen thereforethat as the bearing portions wear the sections 75 and 76 may be forcedapart by the wedge 79 and the bearings tightened. This movement ispermitted by the screws 84: which secure the strap 81 to the sectionsand pass through slots 85 in the strap. The link 67 is formed in thesame manner and it is therefore not deemed advisable to describe thislink in detail. The upper end of the link 65 is formed in somewhat asimilar manner, that is to say, it is identical with one half of thelink 74, the bearing members being omitted from one end and the strapbeing secured by means of a bolt 86. When the shaft 59 is actuated thelinks 74 on the ends of the machine will be reciprocated because oftheir connection to the crank portions 60 and 61 of the shaft and thisreciprocation of the links 74% will be opposite and will cause thebreaking of the links 65 and 67 at their pivot points 66 so that thecranks 53 on the ends of the stay bars will be oscillated. Thisoscillation of the stay bars will cause the blades carried thereby to bealternately raised and lowered and as they pass the gin ning blades, thecottonseed will be forced from the cotton. In connection with the cranks53 and the crank arms '58 it is to be noted that the crank arms extendin angular relation to the horizontal when the links 65 and 67 are inalinement with each other. The effect of this is that when the links 65and 67 are broken about their pivots 66 the crank arms will be drawn toa position be low the horizontal, when they are again moved intoalinement with each other the crank arms will be moved above thehorizontal and when they are broken to the opposite side of the verticalthe crank arms will again be moved below the horizontal. It will thus beseen that upon each revolution of the driving shaft 59 each of thehacker blades will be moved past the ginning blades twice. This producesa rapid operation of the hacker blades and inasmuch as four of theseblades are provided the maximum speed of operation will be attained.

In order that the cotton may be fed to the ginning blades and therollers and the seeds taken care of after having been forced from thecotton, I have secured, adjustably to the inner face of each end plate,a support 87, the adjustment being had by means of bolts 88 which passthrough slots 89 in the supports. A shed board 90 is mounted on thesesupports and extends between the same and supported by horizontal arms91 of the supports are seed griddles 92 which are located adjacent therollers 7 but su'lliciently spaced therefrom to permit the hacker bladesto pass the same and the rollers. These seed griddles are provided witha plurality of perforations 93' through which the seeds may drop afterhaving been expelled from the cotton. Slidably mounted on each seedgriddle is a feeder 94 which reciprocates on the upper face of the seedgriddle, the feeders being secured together at their ends by means ofrods 95 so that as one feeds the cotton to the roller or ginning bladethe other will be withdrawn to receive a fresh supply of cotton. 7

In order that these feeders may be reciprocated, I have provided a shaft96 which extends through the end plates 1 and is mounted in bearings 97.One end of this shaft is provided with a pulley 98 over which a belt 99extends, which belt also extends-over a pulley 100 on the shaft 6 onwhich the pulley 10 is mounted, being held tightly on this pulley by anidler 101. Connected to this shaft 96 are links 102 which are con nectedto staples 103 carried by one of the feeders. Thus as the shaft 96 isrotated, through the pulleys 98 and 100 and the belt 99, the feederswill be successively and alternately moved toward and away from therollers and the cotton fed to the same. Each of these links 102 includesa pair of sections which are secured together by a strap 104, the strappassing over and forming a bearing for the shaft 96. The other end ofthe link is provided with a strap 105 by means of which the link isattached to the staple 103.

By way of summary it is stated that I have provided a double rollercotton gin in which one ginning blade cooperates with each roller and Ihave mounted the breasts which carry the ginning blade in such mannerthat the pressure of the blades upon the.

rollers may be varied and so that the breasts may be adjusted verticallyto vary the position of the blades with relation to the rollers.Furthermore I have so mounted the breasts that they will be forceddownwardly by resilient means which will permit them:

to ride if the ginning blades are struck by the hacker blades so thatneither the ginning blades nor the hacker blades will be injured.

I have mounted the rollers in such manner that they may be adjustedvertically or horizontally independently of the ginning blades.Furthermore I have provided the machine with two stay bars each of whichcarries a pair of hacker blades, one blade cooperating with each roller.These blades are so mounted that as one blade rises to force the cottonseed from the cotton the diagonally opposite blade will have a likemovement while at the same time the remaining blades will movedownwardly or away from the ginning blades to permit the latter toreceive a fresh supply of cotton. By this construction the capacity ofthe machine over those of the ordinary types is greatly increased. Ihave so constructed the adjusting means for the rollers and breasts thata uniform pressure may be attained throughout the entire extent of theginning blades which is a pre-requisite to the successful ginning of thecotton.

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of myinvention, it has merely been for the sake of convenience and I do notwish to be limited to that particular embodiment as it is obvious thatnumerous. changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is V 1. In a cotton gin, end frames having vertical andhorizontal slotted flanges, aginning roller, a breast having endtrunnions,

and upwardly extending arms, a ginning blade carried by said breast andadapted to contact tangentially with said roller, and means foradjusting said breast bodily and arcuately to adjust said blade withrelation to said roller from its tangential con tacting line with theroller as a center, in-

cluding intersecting vertical and horizontal bolts engaging slots ofsaid flanges and in the inner mtersectmg ends of which said trunnlonsare mounted, and nuts threaded upon the outer ends of said bolts anden-- gaging said flanges and a transverse lengthwise adjustablerodconnecting said arms.

2. In a cotton gin, end frames having vertical" and horizontal slottedflanges, a ginning roller, abreast having end trun nions,}and upwardlyextending arms, a ginning blade carried by said breast and adapted tocontacttangentially with said roller and means for adjusting said breastbodily and arcuately to adjust said blade with relation to said rollerfrom its tangential contacting line with the roller as a center,including intersecting vertical and horizontal bolts engaging slots ofsaid flanges and in the inner intersecting ends of which said trunnionsare mounted, nuts threaded upon the outer ends of said bolts andengaging said flanges and a transverse lengthwise adjustable rodconnecting said arms, said vertical bolts having lateral extensions, andspring means engaging said lateral extensions for resisting upwardmovement of said breast and the ginning blade carried thereby.

3. In a cotton gin, end frames having vertical and horizontal slottedflanges, a ginning roller, a breast having end trunnions, and upwardlyextending arms, a ginning blade carried by said breast and adapted tocontact tangentially with said roller, and means foradjusting saidbreast bodily and arcuately to adjust said blade with relation to saidroller from its tangential contacting line with the roller as a center,including intersecting vertical and horizontal bolts engaging slots ofsaid flanges and. in the inner intersecting ends 1 0 of which saidtrunnions are mounted, nuts threaded upon the outer ends of said boltsand engaging said flanges, and a transverse lengthwise adjustable rodconnecting said arms, and spring means engaging said lateral extensionsfor resisting upward movement of said breast and the ginning bladecarried thereby, and means for adjusting said rollers bodily in twodirections including vertical bars carrying said rollers and havinglower slots, bolts carried by said end frames and engaging said lowerslots, upper vertical bolts engaging slots of said'horizontal flanges,at their lower ends having pivotal engagement with said bars and fromwhich said bars and said rollers are suspended, and horizontal boltsengaging slots of said vertical flanges and at their inner endspivotally engaging said bars, and nuts threaded upon the outer ends ofsaid Vertical and horizontal bolts and engaging said flanges.

4. In a double roller cotton gin, end

frames having vertical and horizontal slotted flanges, ginning rollers,breasts provided with end trunnions and upwardly extending arms, ginningblades carried by said breasts and adapted to contact tangentially withsaid rollers, intersecting ver tical and horizontal bolts engaging theslots of said flanges and having at their inner intersecting ends eyesin which said trunnions are mounted, said bolts having at their outerends nuts threaded thereon and engaging said flanges, a transverselengthwise adjustable rod connecting said upwardly extending arms, atransverse bar engaging said vertical bolts, and spring means forexerting pressure upon said bar.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in the presence of twowitnesses.

LELAND L. FOSS.

Witnesses:

A. ELLIsoN, Gno. H. CHANDLER.

fiopiee of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

